Not only is the province the nation leader when it comes to creating new positions, but a report out Tuesday by Statistics Canada indicated Alberta has the highest job vacancy rate in the country as well as the lowest ratio of unemployed people to job vacancies.

The federal agency reported that there were 48,600 job vacancies in the province in April for a job vacancy rate of 2.4 per cent. A year ago, there were 47,400 vacancies with a vacancy rate of 2.5 per cent.

At the national level, there were 227,300 job vacancies and a rate of 1.5 per cent.

Last year, there were 235,200 job vacancies with a rate of 1.6 per cent across the country.

The job vacancy rate is the number of vacant positions divided by total labour demand which is made up of occupied positions plus vacant positions.

Alberta’s ratio of unemployed people to job vacancies rose to 2.3 from 2.2 in April 2013 while Canada’s ratio was up to 6.1 in April from 6.0 a year ago.

Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial, said job vacancy rates vary significantly across sectors in Alberta. Businesses in the accommodation and food industries are facing a vacancy rate of 7.7 per cent — up from 5.7 per cent a year ago.

“Employers in this sector depend heavily on foreign temporary workers. Recent changes to the program may cause the vacancy rate to rise even higher,” said Hirsch.

At the other end of the spectrum are jobs in public administration and educational services, where the job vacancy rates are 1.3 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively, he said.

“A high job vacancy rate is good news and bad news,” explained Hirsch. “The good news is it signals a healthy job market and an abundance of employment positions. This is the reason thousands of people have moved to Alberta. The bad news is employers may find it difficult to find qualified applicants to fill vacant jobs which may limit their ability to operate profitably.”

mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com

Twitter.com/MTone123

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